World Music

There’s a caffeinated exuberance throughout the entirety of the record. The opening songs are particularly upbeat and awake, reflective of Condon’s newfound clarity, so much so in fact, that the fifth song, the instrumental breather ‘As Needed’ is exactly that – a necessary intermission. The second half picks up where it left off, with effervescent percussion across pop songs, often led by bubbly piano lines that showcase Condon’s development as a pianist.

If the darkest hour is right before the dawn, Condon’s dawn is the brightest point in his still-young career. He’s found his true artistic identity as a songwriter – one that greatly abandons many of the formulas for which he was first known. The songwriter within Condon has always been there, albeit sonically veiled on past records. It’s never been presented so prominently, and finds Beirut on its most stable and convincing footing yet.

Soutak is the second solo album of the exiled Sahrawi singer and songwriter Aziza Brahim. Though she now lives in Barcelona (after spending most of her life in refugee camps) and regularly tours Western Europe and the Mediterranean, she has continually fought the Sahrawi cause. Her native country remains disputed territory by a variety of warring international governmental and even mercenary corporate factions. This set is acoustic; an electric bass the only derivation from the nylon-string guitars and percussion sounds. Brahim notes in her liner essay that she wanted Soutak to reflect the music of Mali, the North African nation whose way of life has been threatened and attacked by Islamist factions that violently attempted to outlaw music (an indigenous character trait of its people).

Coming almost two decades after the release of the original Grammy-winning, self-titled LP, the new album is a collection of previously unreleased tracks - some of which were recorded during the original album’s sessions in Havana and others from the years that followed.